When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore

Pro football had a checkered history in Baltimore that began with a wobbly start in 1947. In 1953, a new team was brought from Dallas, the Colts, who, particularly after the acquisition of quarterback Johnny Unitas in 1956, became one of the best in the league. In 1958, the Colts won the championship in an overtime contest with the New York Giants that fans call the greatest football game ever played; 13 years later the Colts won Super Bowl V. Gildea, a sportswriter with the Washington Post who spent his Baltimore youth as a Colts fan, recaptures the optimism and joy of his early years in this warm memoir. After Unitas was traded in 1972, the Colts were good but not great. In 1984, a new owner moved the franchise to Indianapolis, hiring 11 trucks to accomplish the deed in the dead of night. Baltimoreans now refer to the team as the ``Indianapolis Vans.'' Photos. (Aug.)